A Paisley dad has been warned to be of good behaviour after threatening to smash his neighbour’s head in with a baseball bat.
Boozed-up Henry Morton threatened neighbour Paula Campbell in May during a “drunken tirade”.
The 43-year-old blasted music from his Auchentorlie Quadrant flat at 9pm before threatening his neighbour and calling her a “f*****g cow”.
Prosecutor Michael Cunningham told Paisley Sheriff Court: “On May 22, Ms Campbell was entering her home address when the accused attended at the doorway of the common close.
“Ms Campbell was bringing in items from her car when she noticed the accused to be antagonising her brother so she asked him to move away because she was intimidated by his behaviour.
“Around 9pm, Ms Campbell’s brother left the property and the accused began blasting music from his flat and shouting abuse.
“Witnesses, who are two residents of the building, saw the accused on the stairs shouting, ‘she’s a grass’ and ‘f*****g cow’.
“The witnesses asked Morton to stop and he refused and they noted the comments were directed to Ms Campbell.”
The court heard how foul-mouthed Morton continued his verbal abuse.
Mr Cunnigham added: “The accused continued to shout, ‘Paula, you’re a grass’ and he made reference to smashing her head in with a baseball bat.
“Ms Campbell was fearful and scared of the accused’s behaviour and contacted police who attended and took statements.
“Morton was located, arrested and taken to Greenock police station where he made no reply to caution and charge and was released on an undertaking.”
Defence agent Mr Brown explained Morton was “heavily intoxicated” at the time of the offence.
Mr Brown explained: “His mental health wasn’t good at the time and he was drinking too much.
“There is no feud towards Ms Campbell, this was a drunken tirade.
“He enjoys this property as it took him some time to gain the tenancy after spending some time in prison and he is fearful of losing the property if this behaviour continues.
“But he assures me it won’t continue and he has some voluntary involvement with social work.”
Sheriff Lindsay Kooner said: “This tenancy is very valuable to you and conduct like this could jeopardise this and it could be taken from you. I’ll defer sentence for six months and I am going to take a chance and ordain you to appear which means you are now no longer subject to special bail conditions.
“If you pass Ms Campbell you must be polite to her and you must be of good behaviour, so don’t come to the attention of the police and don’t cause any difficulties to Ms Campbell, her brother or any other residents.”
Sentence was deferred for Morton to be of good behaviour until May 5, 2023.
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